


A New Housemate

by NB_Cecil



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Ageing, All Cecils are nonbinary Cecils, Cecil and Carlos are Old!, Cecilos Fluff, Fluff, Other, Tameka and Dana are quite old too!, Tameka has a teenage daughter!, all Carloses are trans Carloses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2017-05-21
Packaged: 2018-11-03 07:12:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10962306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NB_Cecil/pseuds/NB_Cecil
Summary: Cecil and Carlos need some help around the house.





	A New Housemate

Tameka balances the box of ancient computer parts precariously on one arm as she reaches to open the loft hatch.

“I'm too old for this shit.” She calls down to Dana, who is wrestling a large leather office chair through the back bedroom door onto the landing.

They are clearing out Carlos's old office. After Cecil's fall last week (minor injuries, but the bruising is alarming to look at), Carlos had confided in Tameka that he no-longer felt safe helping Cecil in and out of bed, down the stairs, and so on.

Cecil had spent _decades_ as a thirty-something, but when they married, time began to pass for him in some sort of “normal” fashion again. It was subtle at first: after a few years, Carlos noticed Cecil's crows' feet had deepened slightly; and a decade-or-so later, he commented one morning on how the white side of his husband's hair had begun to encroach on the black. Because of his terror of mirrors, Cecil himself was unaware of these changes until they were pointed out, but he had noticed his knees getting a bit achy on rare cold evenings. Ageing didn't bother him. He'd liked that his body was keeping chronological pace with his husband's.

All these years of married life. Coming home to each other. Going out together. Time spent apart, but always coming back to slip themselves back into their relationship like feet into well-worn slippers. And now, three weeks after their 60th wedding anniversary, it's time to fit a third person into this life they've made together.

Tameka's daughter Sasha is 19—has been 19 for several years—and it's high time she flies the nest. Her mother has been quite vociferous about this. She'd almost idolised Carlos as a kid. He'd helped her with school science projects and, after she survived a summer internship at his lab with only two broken bones and minor concussion, had written a glowing reference to accompany her application to study forensics at Night Vale Community College. Repeating the second year of a two-year course over and over was beginning to get to her and she'd noticed herself snapping at her mother way too much recently.

As she walks the few blocks from the College to Carlos and Cecil's home, Sasha ponders this change in her relationship with her mother, as well as the hope she's been secretly harbouring since her mother suggested she offer to move in and help Carlos and Cecil around the house that being around older people might rub off on her. _After all, it had worked for Cecil. Perhaps Carlos would be a good chronological influence on me too and I might finally graduate and get a proper job_ , she thinks.

Dana opens the front door, smiling warmly at Sasha, who greets her before squeezing past the flat-pack furniture packages stacked in the hall.

“They're out back,” Says Dana, “Go and say hi.”

The teenager walks through the house to the back door and out onto the patio where Carlos and Cecil are seated next to a garden table, enjoying the evening sunshine, Khoshekh curled up in Cecil's lap. She bends to kiss them both hello.

“Welcome _home_.” Carlos greets her, squeezing her hand.

Sasha grins, pulls up an upturned bucket, and sits herself at the couple's feet. They chat about her day and Cecil's recent guest appearance on Night Vale Community Radio's _Golden Oldies_ show, while Cecil pours coffee from the pot on the table. _They've planned this_ , Sasha thinks as she sips her hot coffee. _They must've asked Mom what time I finished at college and made the coffee in time for it to be just brewed when I arrived. I'm going to have a hard job taking care of them if they're this intent on taking care of me_.

Tameka's heavy footsteps on the stairs announce her before she and Dana appear on the patio. Sasha rises from her bucket to greet her mother.

“We're done here,” Tameka hugs her daughter, “We've cleared everything out apart from the desk, and carried your new bed up. Will you be OK assembling it on your own?”

“I'll be fine, Mom.” Sasha waves the Allen key she keeps in her pocket.

Carlos reaches from his chair to tug the tail of Sasha's lab coat and she turns to face him.

“A scientist is _always_ fine.” He says, grinning.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from fanficy-prompts.tumblr.com


End file.
